welcome to the Mesa city council meeting if you would like to speak on an item or provide comment please fill out the form online at mesaaz.gov Blue card or fill out a blue card at the back of the room please keep your comments to 3 minutes you can also ask for an item to be removed from the consent agenda items on the consent agenda are read into the record and voted on in one motion at the end of tonight's meeting under items from citizens present there will be an opportunity for three citizens to speak on any issue for a maximum of 3 minutes each the council cannot respond to your comments the city of Mesa operates under a council District system with the mayor elected at large the mayor of Mesa is John Giles there are six districts in Mesa and here are your elected council members in District 1 Mark Freeman represents Northwest Mesa in District 2 Julie spillsbury represents Central and South Central Mesa in District 3 Francisco Heredia represents Southwest Mesa in District Four Jen Duff represents downtown Mesa and the area south of downtown in District 5 Alicia gforth represents northeast Mesa and in district 6 Scott Summers represents Southeast Mesa information about your council member and the City of Mesa is available online at mesaaz.gov all City Council meetings are broadcast live and then rebroadcast on Mesa a TV and at Mesa a.tv welcome again to the Mesa city council meeting for the evening of January 22nd I'll note for the record that all of our council is present uh we will begin this meeting with an invocation offered by Reverend and ligher with the belder rose United Methodist Church followed by the Pledge of Allegiance uh Reverend ligher is with us via Zoom so I'll I am indeed great thank you I'll invite everyone to stand for the invocation and then following that we'll have the Pledge of Allegiance go ahead pastor it is my privilege to offer this prayer mayor and Council folk let us pray Heavenly creator of all bless this meeting time and all who are part of it bless the members of the council the mayor the citizens and all who participate May the council find purpose and meaning and joy in their work may they have wisdom for their decisions may they see the people of Mesa as beloved people of sacred worth enable us to wisely and efficiently manage our time in this meeting today help us all to remember that each person is a person with concerns needs dreams purpose and value even when we do not agree let us all intend good will for each other and for all concerned to the betterment of our community at large Lord give us wisdom and and peace in all things amen amen please join me in the pledge of allegiance myed aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you the first item on our agenda for this meeting is approval of the consent agenda we invite Mr Kevin Christopher forward to read that evening mayor and council members these are the items on the consent agenda all items listed with an asterisk will be considered as a group by the city council and will be enacted with one motion there will be no separate discussion unless a council member or citizen request in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda and considered as a separate item item two approval of minutes of previous meetings as written item 3A act on liquor like license application for Save The Family Foundation of Arizona one day event February 17th Mesa Convention Center North lot at 359 North Center Street item 3B AC on liquor license application for Family Dollar 1021 East Main Street item 4A approving one-year term contract for playground equipment repair and replacement parts for the parks recreation and Community facilities Department item 4B approving contract to purchase a large explosive ordinance disposal robot for the Mesa Police Department this purchase is from Grant funds and general funds item 4 C approving Cooperative contract use for the purchase of one heavyduty back ho loader for the energy resources department item 4D approving ratification of the emergency purchase for fiber optic cabling repairs for the engineering department item 4E approving Cooperative contract used to purchase two crew cab utility service trucks for the energy resources and Water Resources departments item 4f approving 9month term contract for Public Safety microwave radio network equipment for the Department of innovation and Technology the cost of being shared between members of the topaz Regional Wireless Cooperative item 4G approving three-year term contract with two years of renewal options for repair and refurbishment services for metal bins and rolloff containers for the Solid Waste Department item 4H approving dollar limit increase to the term contract for Renewal options for residential refuse and recycling containers for the Solid Waste Department item 5A approving resolution modifying fees and charges for the police department for public records request of police video recordings item 5B approving resolution to accept funds for non-functional Turf removal at city of Mesa Parks through a grant agreement with the water infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona item 5c approving resolution approving a substantial Amendment to the city of mesa's annual action plan for fiscal years 2223 and 2324 and submitting the amendment to HUD item 5D approving resolution extinguishing portions of easements located at 1836 West Main Street to allow for construction of multifam development item 5e approving resolution extinguishing a portion of a 10-ft easement located at 1461 West Southern Avenue to allow for construction of a new medical office building item 5f approving resolution extinguishing all or portions of easements located at 3729 South 79th Street to correct an error on the dimensions of two lots on the Subdivision plat item 6A approving ordinance for zoning case 2254 for property located south of Thomas Road on the east and west sides of Al Vista Drive a reone with planned area development overlay and site plan review to correct an ordinance map and allow a mix of single residents multiple residents and commercial development at agritainment District at Pioneer Crossing item 6B approving ordinance for annexation case 23480 for property located west of ellworth road on the north side of Southern Avenue item 6C approving ordinance for zoning case 23478 for property generally located west of Ellsworth Road on the north side of Southern Avenue reson with planned area development overlay and a site planner view to allow for a multiple residence development item 7A has been removed from the consent agenda mayor and council members these are the items on the consent agenda thank you Mr Christopher I see we have a motion made by council member Freeman seconded by council member spillsbury uh please vote well before we do that have we had any requests to speak on any items on the consent agenda no request on okay thank you very much please vote thank you consent agenda passes unanimously first item off the consent agenda is item 7A this is to take action on a Subdivision plat for Cadence at Gateway phase three um Mr Summers thank you mayor I remove this uh from the consent agenda I'm going to request a twoe continuance of the item as a council we are obliged to approve a plat based on the use of a property the allowed uses are established at zoning however council is responsible for ensuring that all applicable code requirements are met before approving a plant this is especially important when a plant is proposed for a use that is very is similar to an existing one and the proposed use is adjacent to critical flood water infrastructure therefore after consultation with staff I'm going to move to continue this item so staff can continue to review this plat and to ensure that it complies with all applicable code requirements and that staff provide in addition a supplemental report to the effect uh to that effect next uh meeting additionally to minimize ISS isues like this in the future I'm asking planning to look into ways to prevent property from being underutilized to prevent incompatible adjacent land uses and to find ways to maximize and ensure the highest and best uses are built with the highest quality specifically the planning department should consider requiring site plans and development agreements in more situations as to the item before us I move that item 7A be continued to the February 5th city council meeting so that staff can ensure compliance with all applicable requirements all right thank you it's been uh suggested that this item be continued to a date certain to our next council meeting February 5th I think we can just uh it's not necessary to take a should we take a vote on that okay so that motion's been made uh well Mr Freeman made that motion Mr Summers has seconded that motion so all in favor of uh continuing this item to the February 5th meeting please vote on that motion thank you that passes unanimously so that item has been uh will be heard on February the 5th uh next items 8A through 8 C are to conduct a public hearing and take action on the minor General planned Amendment and Zoning case related to the SEC Center Street and lindwood Lane development I declare the public hearing open Miss Mosley do we have any requests to speak on this item no request mayor thank you do any council members wish to address these items okay seeing none I declare the public hearing closed if there's no objection from Council we'll take one motion for the approval of items 8 B and 8 C the minor minor General plan Amendment and the zoning case I see that Mr Freeman has made a motion seconded by Mr Summers is there any discussion please vote thank you that passes unanimously uh next item on our agenda is items from citizens present the audio wasn't turned on ladies and gentlemen where you were listening explaining what items from citizens present is so if you don't mind I'll I'll rehearse it I'll go over that a little bit uh this is the time on our agenda where we hear from the public and on the agenda we have room for three people to speak for three minutes and it's on a first come first serve basis uh there was a gentleman to put in a card to speak uh initially and we'll hear from him and then I know obviously we have we have a large crowd here that is part of uh here for the same issue and I have 12 different cards representing and they've indicated on the cards that they're all here to talk about Justice for Steven and the jacobo family um tragedy and uh and we absolutely will will hear from two of you if you don't mind I I think i' I'd invite the parents uh Elma and is it uh Mark yes sir okay so I'm going invite Elma and Mark to come up and and share their thoughts but I'm sorry we don't have the agenda only allows for three speakers and so and the other thing I need to apologize for because this isn't agendized on our on our meeting we we can't respond back uh the law doesn't allow us to comment on an issue that's not on our agenda so when you come up and say Hey I want to talk about this we're happy to hear what you have to say but we can't engage in a in a dialogue about it so I I certainly I so I apologize and hope you'll understand that we're not not responding out of any lack of uh understanding uh or of how serious the the issues are that you're bringing to us so uh we'll be in with items from citizens present from hearing first from Mr Brad Moore Mr Mor step right up um please give us your address and you have three minutes Mr mayor council members if if I knew there were only three people I would have um deferred in in light of the situation but I would like to since You' called me up I would like to say this is my son Tanner he's a fourth grader um wanted to come come with me tonight um I'm from Queen Creek and I'm here to show show solidarity from the members of my community that lost uh a boy Preston Lord to senseless violence um we're here to talk about your son and your family tonight but I just want you to know that the people of Queen Creek support you um I want a shirt I want to figure out someone please get get with me I want to get a shirt so I can wear it in my community thank okay um we would like uh first and foremost to thank the Mesa Police Department for taking the lead on the um investigation with Preston Lord the police department is the police chief here by chance okay well if the hopefully he can get the message but we just want to say thank you for setting the example and really taking the lead my son Tanner like I said is a fourth grader and you want to tell him real quick he got he got an award last week in school you want to tell them what it's about it's about um speaking and help I mean finding your voice and help others find theirs yeah speaking and uh speaking your voice and uh help helping others find theirs but most importantly it's a it's a it's a leadership and I wanted him to to um be able to stand here with me you know I worry about sending my child to school uh every day I have other children as well I worry about them being bullied picked on that just comes with the territory right like that's just the way life goes you don't want it to happen but it happens I've never up until about two months ago worried that eventually my son might might have to go somewhere and be jumped by S people and beaten mercilessly or in this case shot at a party going and hanging out with his friends um never worried about that and I hope that I never have to again I hope we can do something as a community to ensure that these type of criminals and parents are taken off the streets um in justice justice is served um I really hope that we can do that uh I just don't want to have to worry about that I just want to worry about simple things kids getting uh you know made fun of or something which got to got to handle as as well but nothing like this um I'm trying to teach Tanner to be an upstander and what an upstander is upstander is someone that that speaks up and says something when something's happening doesn't put their head in the sand and look the other way they say something they say that's not right they they tell the the right people and they uh they report the the misconduct um good friend of mine Aaron Burton was a a retired Mesa police officer and he assured me I talked to him today he assured me that mesa's got the best police force in the state and I and I I do believe that I encourage the police force to please help their brothers and sisters in the Gilbert and Queen Creek departments uh there they're a little bit newer uh I think you guys have set the stage I really hope we can lean upon you to set the stage and help them as they work through this especially Queen Creek in the first murder uh case that they have uh the jacoba family much like the Lord family lost his son to senseless violence race doesn't play a part in this you know I came here tonight I didn't know I mean it's it's obvious that the uh majority here are not Caucasian it doesn't matter we're here we're all here together as a community I hope you feel that hope you know that and and I hope you know that I'm sincere when I say that we need to do things we need to be better as a as a community um how much time do I have left am I out of time time is gone I'm time is gone um we stand with the jacoba family uh I'd like a shirt someone could let me know thank you very much and know that we uh we appreciate your willingness allowing us to come tonight thank you thank you Mr Moore uh Mark and Elma do do you have a preference who comes up and speaks first I'll speak okay so uh I am Elma analin um Steven jacobo's mother uh I stand here before you today as a grieving mother a position no one should ever have to be in my son Steven jakobo was the beacon of of my life he was tragically taken from us a victim of the escalating gun violence that has been plaguing our city today his loss has left an incredible mark on our family and friends and his absence is a void that will never be filled our children are our future they are the ones that will carry forward the legacy of this city yet it is disheartening to see that they are becoming victims of the very society that is supposed to be nurturing and protecting them the increased rate of violent crimes against our children is not just alarming but it is very unacceptable while I appreciate the efforts of the Mesa Police Department in apprehending the individual that was responsible for my son's murder I stand here today to say that it is not enough reactive measures are not sufficient we need to be proactive in our approach to combat all of these tragedies that are happening today we we need to implement stronger measures to ensure that the safety of our children we need to increase police presence in the high-risk areas and stricter law enforcement pertaining to illegal activities that are happening in our community I urge you to please prioritize the safety and well-being of our children let us not wait for another family to go through the pain and the suffering that my family has gone through let us take action now to ensure that our children can grow and thrive in a safe and Ure environment in memory of my son Steven jacobo and in honor of all of the children of this city I implore that you make a change let us work together to create a city that respects and protects its most vulnerable citizens which are our children let us build a future where our children can live without fear please let's work together to do what's best for our children and to keep them safe thank you thank you Elma we're U so sorry for your loss mark my name is Mark chobo and I live in Mesa I've came here to bring to you to your attention a matter that just great concern to myself my family and this community on November 6 2022 my son Steven Bonito jacobo was murdered the day after his 18th birthday he was a good funloving caring young man the Maricopa County Attorney's office has denied the report and has had it sent back to the Mesa Police Department twice meanwhile the suspect gunman is still allowed to roam the streets and other communities for over a year I understand that a murder case is complicated however how would you feel if it was one of you going through the heartache and the frustration we know who did this the Mesa PD knows who did this and yet it takes police three times to write a completed report to arrest and remove this murder off our streets it makes no sense to us our family has been very patient through this process but yet why does it take many juveniles deaths in the city of Mesa and other cities in our state to bring awareness to their cities to have our city of Mesa finally take action of my son's case the court Attorney office cannot do their job if the Mesa Police can't complete their work their reports the first time remember many communities have experienced and still experienced the real trauma at the hands of the police so my son and other families can get their Justice that's what they all deserve our kids these our kids deserve to enjoy a full life no parents should be carrying their son's ashes son or daughter's ashes everywhere they go like I do now the violence needs to stop against our children thank you for your time than you even though we respond to what you're saying we can make sure that you get connected to the people that can answer your questions so I know Mark and Elma you you've met a moment ago with assistant chief Ranken who's the head of uh investigations and I know that uh that he's committed to answering any questions you might have with regard to what the role of the Mesa Police Department might be in in the prosecution and I understand that charges have been refiled and the individual is is in custody right now so uh I assure you that our police department will do everything it can to uh for a successful prosecution there um and I again I I know U there's a strong showing of Community Support here and I'm just going to read the names of the folks that submitted cards and and offer our apologies because the agenda only allowed for three speakers uh but Jamie or was here rosin Delgado uh Dylan Tucker Alexa Dean Amon Felix Michelle jacobe Lupin Gomez uh Angel Paris and barck jaob um again thank you very much for being here I assure you that uh teen violence is an issue that we are that's at the top of our agenda and and I know that it's painful for our Council to not be able to respond we would love to to spend more time talking with you about this but I just can't do it in the context of this public meeting all right thank you that concludes our agenda for this meeting is there a motion to adjourn thank you Mr Freeman and Mr Summers all in favor please say I I thank you we are adjourned